Gone Away
by SerenityFalconNormandy
Summary: Prompt: Ring The Mass Effect 2 opening scene.


Jehanne was grumpy, just barely awake and dressed in her armor when the Normandy's comm exploded with noise.

"Brace for evasive maneuvers!" Joker's voice rang through the elevator car.

She didn't even have time to react before she was thrown into the wall with a loud crunch. Cursing, she picked herself up and took in the situation. The doors had popped open, as they were programmed to in this type of situation, leaving her with just enough room to get down on the floor and shimmy out. Kneeling and peaking out, she saw fires and bodies.

"Shit."

Jehanne sat down and scooted herself forward, toes stretching towards the floor as she slid free of the elevator. Landing with a resounding thud, she took off running as soon as she had her balance. Pausing just for a second next to her armor rack, she grabbed one of her N7 helmets without looking then dashed off again towards the distress beacon. Years of training took over, keeping her on her feet as the deck shuddered under her feet, throwing less-fortunate crew members to the unforgiving floor. The fires were creeping towards the beacon station and her sinuses and lungs began to burn from the smoke. Quickly, she punched in her codes and authorizations to prime the beacon.

As she slid the helmet on to protect her from the heat and smoke, Kaidan's voice rang out behind her. "Shepard!"

Seals hissing closed, she stated over the Normandy comm, "Distress beacon is ready for launch."

Behind her, Kaidan asked through his helmet comm, "Will the Alliance get here in time?"

_Fuck, I don't know. We're out in a barely-populated arm of the Terminus Systems… but gotta sound confident for anyone who might be listening. _Another explosion rocked the ship, hurtling Kaidan forward into her arms. They clacked into the beacon station, wrapped around each other in a vicious parody of the way they had been embracing mere hours before. A shiver ran through her as their biotic fields combined momentarily. Settling each other back on their feet, Jehanne switched to the interpersonal comm and said calmly, "They'll be here. The Alliance won't abandon us."

She grabbed a fire extinguisher. It was a case of too little, too late as she looked down the hall, but it should help them make way to the escape shuttles.

"We just need to hold on."

Taking a look, Jehanne felt the urge to do a quick sweep, just to make sure she wasn't leaving anyone to go down with the Normandy. It would be a brutal death, and she couldn't bring herself to abandon anyone to that fate. She tossed the extinguisher to Kaidan then began working at one of the wall panels, sending the evac order throughout the ship and tracking all personnel to ensure that those still alive were able to get to the shuttles. "Get everyone onto the escape shuttles!"

"Joker's still in the cockpit," he shouted over the noise of the extinguisher, clearing the way for them. "He won't abandon ship. I'm not leaving either."

_Dammit Joker. _Of course he wouldn't leave. Stomach dropping, and the awful little voice in the back of her head hissing about the reason frat regs existed, Jehanne turned back to Kaidan. No way was she letting him risk himself for their stubborn pilot. Rounding on him, she yelled, "There's no time to argue. I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker."

Turning towards the bridge, an exhaust pipe gave way in front of her and threw her back a few steps.

"Commander!" The distress in his voice wasn't an XO for a Commander, but that of someone terrified for the person they loved.

"Kaidan, go! Now." Her heart was in her throat as she set the final sequence to launch the distress beacon and prep the escape shuttles.

"Aye, aye."

Jehanne closed her eyes and let out a long breath as she listened to Kaidan's boots pound away from her. She slapped the beacon launch, then pulled up the crew list on her HUD as she made her way to the cockpit. _Shit._ The number of names in red made her want to scream. _Goddammit, Pressley… Shit, Ros and Tal too. _The Draven twins, assigned to the Normandy because the two of them bouncing off of each other were better than a computer when it came to maintaining the weapons system, were Mindoir survivors. Angry tears burned behind her eyes as she ran through the flames, shielding her eyes from the brightness.

Names changed from silver to gold as they entered the shuttles, reassuring her that Chakwas and Adams were safe. Jehanne bit back another angry curse as Grenado's name went from silver to red when another explosion echoed through the ship. She couldn't, however, stop the sigh of relief when Kaidan's name went gold. Only Joker's name was silver, so it was just the two of them left.

The Normandy rocked continuously under her feet, and Joker's distress calls echoed through the now-empty ship. Charging up the stairs to the bridge, Jehanne let out a yelp as the doors opened and the cabin decompressed. The mags in her boots kicked in, allowing her to make her slow, clunking way towards the sealed-off cockpit. Chairs blown free of the floor in the initial attack floated eerily in the walkway, and she palmed them out of the way. Even at this speed, if Joker bumped into one, it could mean a life-threatening fracture. There was no telling when they could get him medical help if that happened. Weight returned to her limbs as she breached the mass effect field shielding Joker from the vacuum, making her biotics and amp tingle.

"Come on, Joker, we have to get out of here."

"No, I won't abandon the Normandy! I can still save her!" The way he spoke, he might as well have been dating or married to the damn ship. Even the quickest glance would tell him that it was a lost cause.

_Fucking stubborn asshole..._ "Don't throw your life away. The Normandy's lost. Going down with the ship won't change that."

He looked at the control panel, jaw working as he ran a loving hand over it. Joker's whole body slumped a little.

"Yeah, okay. Help me up."

A flicker of golden light through the windshield caught both of their attention.

"They're coming around for another attack!"

Her heart leapt into her throat as the beam of light smashed into the husk of the Normandy. They had to go, now. Jehanne grabbed Joker's arm, bile rising in her throat as she felt the bones crunch in her grip and he let out an exclamation of pain. She hustled him easily in the weightless space between the cockpit and bridge escape shuttle waiting for him to catch himself in the shuttle's gravity before letting go. The beam set off something near them, flinging her away from the hatch and towards the on-board deployment panel, and she slammed into the wall.

Joker was yelling for her, and she slammed the panel to close the hatch and send him to safety. Her N7 training had included emergency procedure if you were spaced. The concentrated oxygen tanks in her suit would keep her going for at least a few hours, and the bridge escape shuttle VI would hold in the planetary atmosphere until it could safely pick her up. Going limp, she let herself float away reminding herself to stay calm. Conserving oxygen was the most important thing.

The beam slicing through the ship was morbidly beautiful. Suddenly, light bloomed and Jehanne was slammed into the wall so hard it made her ears ring before she went spinning out of the ship's remains. It'd hit the air exchange tanks for the bridge. The final explosion made her eyes water with grief, even as the ringing slowly faded into a slow hiss. Her heart pounded in her ears. One of the oxygen lines was compromised, or one of the seals must have broken when the explosion had thrown her. There wouldn't be time for the escape shuttle to find her - not alive anyway. She was going to die.

Jehanne activated the suit's outbound comm channel, hooked to the escape pods' internal comms as she began to panic, grasping desperately at the lines and seals, a last ditch attempt to keep herself alive. Her HUD flashed, letting her know the inbound comm receiver was unresponsive. Letting out a broken sob, her voice was hoarse as she spoke.

"I'm so sorry."

* * *

Kaidan watched the crew list on his HUD like a hawk, waiting for Jehanne and Joker's names to go gold. Occasionally, the spin of the shuttle allowed everyone inside to see the wreck of the Normandy. The viewport went bright from the deadly golden beam slicing the ship to shreds, and his heart started to pound when Joker went from silver to gold, but Shepard's didn't change. When the concussive wave of the Normandy exploding rocked the shuttle, he reminded himself, panic rising, that Jehanne was trained for this. She would be picked up by the bridge shuttle, and they'd be waiting for her and Joker on the surface of the planet.

Then the shuttle comm crackled on.

"I'm so sorry."

Her voice was hoarse, and broke on the 'sorry'. Dr. Chakwas went white as they all heard the loud hiss in the background. Suit breach. Kaidan activated the officer's comm channel through his helmet. Only Shepard and he should be on the channel, none of the other officers had been suited and helmeted when they got in the shuttles.

"Jehanne! Jehanne, don't panic. The bridge shuttle will get you, you only need a few minutes for the debris to clear enough for it to come get you. Please…"

His breath caught in his throat. He needed to believe this was true.

"Just keep your breathing steady for me, let me know you're okay by signalling." There was no response, just Shepard's breathing getting louder and louder in the shuttle, until they heard struggling gasps.

The gasping petered out, leaving them all in stunned silence. Moments passed, and Chakwas let out a sob as the hardsuit's VI began broadcasting the high-pitched whine of a distress signal. The harsh squeal cut off as Kaidan shut down the comm line. The spot in his mind where that strange connection to Jehanne lived, the one that had developed shortly after Feros, went blank. Seconds later, it went cold and sent a bolt of agony through his head, worse than any migraine he'd ever had.

Inside his helmet, all alone, he screamed, a wordless noise of pain.

She was gone.


End file.
